October Sky

The teacher dies having made her small contribution to the colonization of other planets by motivating a boy who would otherwise be a coal miner to become a rocket engineer. Throughout the nation teachers are sending their prize pupils through the funnel flask to produce technology from pure science. The mother and father are good, disciplined, god- fearing people who stand firm against dissolution and chaos. They hold their clod of soil in place and others do the same to create the landscape of community. Communities across the nation and the world produce the many to support the few who make the tools and do the math to colonize the planets. Once the secret of warp speed is discovered, expansion of the species is limitless. Perhaps learning Sidewinder, playing it imperfectly, is not a direct contribution to destiny. What can I say. Please yourself. So insignificant no one notices or cares. Yet some stories may be told for centuries. Homer, Shakespeare, Bible. It takes constantly renewed consciousness to persevere, retell the stories and interpret lessons. You go, girl.